The final figures are just in from the Official Catholic Directory, known as the Kenedy directory in church circles. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles recorded 100,604 baptisms in 2007, making it the first time any diocese or archdiocese has exceeded 100,000 in a year, reports Cardinal Roger M. Mahony in The Tidings, weekly newspaper of the archdiocese.

Cardinal Mahony notes that the total exceeds the entire Catholic population of 50 U.S. dioceses. The Catholic population of the Los Angeles Archdiocese is estimated at nearly 4.2 million, according to the directory. It is the largest diocese in the United States.

By comparison, the second and third largest archdioceses had just a fraction of that number, the cardinal notes. The Archdiocese of New York, with a Catholic population of 2.6 million, had 27,011 baptisms. The Archdiocese of Chicago, with a Catholic population of 2.3 million, had 38,533 baptisms in 2007.